The Multiverse and Apollo Justice
by MATT SUNSTON
Summary: Different universes, and the one young man tying them together. A look at Apollo Justice - or, more accurately, the many people he dates in different parallel universes.
1. Prime

"With every choice we make, we literally create a world; history branches in two, creating one Earth where we made the choice, and a second where we didn't. _That_ is the secret of the universe, you know: billions of people making billions of choices, creating infinite Earths - some so similar to each other you could spend a lifetime searching for any distinction, others so radically different they defy comprehension."

To understand the theory of an infinite multiverse is to understand the concept that every individual in existence is responsible for the existence for an uncountable number of alternate universes dependent on their personal choices made in every moment of every day, however small. Lacking the proper terminology to adequately quantify the sheer number of realities assumed to exist in accordance with this theory, it is reasonable for one to be generous and simply consider the total infinite.

Opening this piece with a high concept such as this suggests a certain scope and depth to what will be presented.

This is not the case.

The selection of parallel and tangentially connected universes chosen for display herein have been chosen for one reason, and that reason is one far from the place of adjectives such as "serious" and "important".

The reason? The only truly notable distinction separating these universes is the chosen romantic partner of the young man named Apollo Justice.

It is hard to say with any measure of certainty what it is that makes the particulars of Apollo's love life anything observers might find interesting, but there is no denying the presence and persistence of such interest.

So, to provide those interested observers with a look into their subject, we will begin with one chosen universe, in which the life of Apollo Justice has brought him into a relationship with someone much like him in many ways - his young and hot-blooded co-worker, Athena Cykes.

* * *

 _Poor Apollo. The guy has to be the most heavily-shipped character Ace Attorney has. I've seen him shipped with at least a third of the series' entire major cast. I'm just throwing ideas out here, so look forward to a nice handful of the Apollo ships I like to varying degrees._


	2. Late Start

The clock told Apollo just how far into the morning his delayed awakening was, but if it hadn't been for that familiar digital display, he wouldn't have guessed from the dreary look of the sky beyond the window blinds.

A small part of his mind felt disappointed in himself for sleeping in so very late, but the time he'd needed to stay awake to the previous night made it reasonable just this once.

As expected, the space on the bed to his left was vacant. A mess of blankets and a lopsided pillow told the story of his partner's considerably earlier departure. Apollo sat up, and a generous amount of his brown hair drooped over his face. He'd tried to work out most of the gel the night before, but he'd been too tired to give it his best effort. He blew a sharp breath of air upward, and when that failed to disperse his rogue bangs, he brought up a hand to brush them away directly.

This bed wasn't really made for two people. It was comfortably large for just one occupant, but the effort to fit someone else in as well meant that a lot of space needed to be shared. Fortunately, neither of the bed's two occupants had any major complaints on the matter.

Apollo shifted to drop his feet to the floor. Shirtless and wearing only a set of comfortable shorts, the cool air stung at his skin for the first few seconds. He groaned as he brought his arms up, holding them behind his head to stretch left and then right.

 _"Morning!"_

Apollo jerked in place at the unexpected feeling of a pair of arms looping around him from behind. They settled just between his chest and stomach, and he gently gripped a hand on the soft upper arm of the young woman joining him.

"Snuck up on ya, didn't I?" Athena Cykes asked him in the kind of voice that plainly spelled out the smirk on her face. Apollo didn't need to look back to recognize Athena's expression.

"Lucky you _can."_ Apollo quipped in reply. Athena's sharp hearing made it quite impossible to approach her unnoticed unless she had something to keep her ears distracted, like a set of headphones playing sufficiently loud music.

Judging by how he hadn't even felt the bed shifting under Athena's weight until she was already on top of him, Apollo guessed that she'd jumped right across the mattress to grab him. Athena's chin dropped onto his shoulder, and Apollo felt a wave of red hair ghosting over his right arm. The scent of strawberry shampoo hit him instantly.

"OK, sleepyhead," Athena said as she nuzzled her cheek gently into his exposed neck, "You've had your beauty rest. Time for breakfast."

Apollo tried to answer her, but his voice dissolved in a yawn. He instead nodded slightly, and Athena's arms released him as he got to his feet. The hardwood floor felt cool on his skin.

"Anything you have in mind?" he asked, turning at last to face Athena. The nineteen year-old was wearing a loose shirt she'd borrowed from Apollo's own closet, but had only her underwear and socks on below that. Apollo felt a little twinge of warmth lighting his cheeks in spite of himself. Athena had clearly only finished her shower quite recently, going off the shine of dampness remaining on her red hair.

She crossed her arms and tilted her head thoughtfully, and Apollo smiled. Athena was beautiful, even with her incredibly long hair just dangling loosely wherever she could get it to rest. Apollo sometimes wondered how on earth his girlfriend could possibly manage her hair, given that without Athena taking the time to style it, it hung down nearly as far as her knees.

Still in the middle of thinking her answer over, Athena jumped when a chirping voice piped up from the pale-blue device dangling from her necklace.

 _"Bacon and waffles, please!"_

Apollo chuckled, while Athena cast an irritated look down at Widget.

"High-maintenance morning, then. Gotcha." Apollo remarked, moving past her to exit the small bedroom. Athena followed closely behind him.

* * *

Twenty minutes found Athena waiting eagerly at the little table as Apollo set two plates down before her. A stack of waffles, exactly as requested, drew her attention first, leaving Apollo to take his portion of the mildly-burned bacon opposite first. He preferred taking the extra time to fry bacon to a soft brown, while Athena was all for the crunch of well-done. Apollo smirked as Athena didn't even wait to take the other plate before tearing a chunk out of her first waffle with her teeth alone.

Whenever she was over for the night, Apollo fully expected to cook breakfast for Athena. He hadn't realized how hopeless she was in the kitchen until they'd begun dating nearly a year ago.

Most of their mealtime was quiet. Athena tugged Widget off of her neck once he chirped another loud comment, leaving the device next to her glass of orange juice.

When the time came for them to clear away their dishes, Athena headed for the sink to get the faucet going.

"See you after my shower." Apollo said, placing his dishes on the counter. He was just on his way out of the kitchen when he uttered a startled yelp. Sneaking up behind him again, Athena had surprised him with a very noticeable pinch of his backside.

"If you'd been up earlier, you could've just joined mine..." she remarked in a low and teasing voice.

Apollo scoffed. "Then we'd just have a flooded bathroom."

For all Athena's flirting, Apollo knew the spacial limitations of his apartment quite well. Fitting two people into the bed was hard enough - there was no way to fit two into the shower.

Still, he couldn't deny that the comment had a certain appeal. Judging by Athena's voice, Apollo suspected he knew what sort of mood his girlfriend was in on this particular morning. He was privately glad for the extra rest he'd had, considering.

* * *

 _Yeah, earn that T rating, guys_

 _This chapter didn't start off so intimate when it was just an idea in my head. Not sure what happened after that._

 _I love Justicykes, but it's not quite my favourite pairing for Apollo._

 _Next on the board, we've got Apollo with a certain friend of Athena's, instead._


	3. Setting Sun

The steady ticking of a large wall clock which marked the gradual passage of time was the only noise making itself heard in the cozy living room of a certain small, single-bedroom house. The lights on the ceiling had been dimmed halfway, leaving enough brightness to illuminate the book being held by the room's single occupant.

Juniper Woods turned over the next page with her thumb. She'd gotten the urge to reread this book just earlier this evening, and had only just located it near the bottom of a partially-unpacked box of similar books fifteen minutes ago. The book in question was a novel she'd loved for much of her life. She'd first read it back in the ninth grade, and it hadn't been long before she'd decided that the school library's worn copy was insufficient. She'd ordered her own soon after, and it was that copy which sat in her gentle grip at this very moment.

Her feet were propped on a small stool just in front of the loveseat she was seated on. Woolen socks received from her grandmother kept her feet warm in these winter months, when she was wary about turning up the thermostat too high.

The dim light from above reflected gently off of the modest engagement ring on her finger, a few stray sparkling lights striking the paperback cover of her novel. At twenty years old, Juniper was quite content with the way her life was developing. She was a licenced defence lawyer, and in just another year or so, she would have the chance to become a judge, as she'd desired to for years. She had just moved into a small house, covering half its cost with her income. The ring on her finger - stylized to resemble an attorney's badge - was another reminder of the happiness she'd found for herself.

It wasn't the last, however.

Juniper was wearing a pale blue shirt, which was loose by necessity, giving room for the prominent bump emerging from her stomach-level. The corner of her book was lightly pressed into her skin just above her navel, the naturally relaxed position of her wrists just a touch too low to stay clear of the bump.

She was halfway through the second paragraph when her eyes drifted away from the page, falling to her partially exposed stomach. A serene smile lit her features.

* * *

The moment that Juniper approached Athena to tell her something, feeling fit to burst with the joy that the news brought on in her, stuck out starkly in her mind as an unshakeable memory.

She'd barely managed to get the words out, to begin with. She couldn't quite remember what exact string of half-formed syllables had finally tumbled from her, but Athena's instantaneous reaction once she understood her friend's meaning was much more clear.

The squeal Athena emitted first was filled with so much combined shock and joy that Juniper momentarily wished she possessed her friend's acute sense of hearing, just to parse the emotional feedback in her voice. Athena's exuberant exclamations trickled from one language to another before finally finding their way back to English.

"What'd he say? Was he all nervous and red? Where's he gonna take you?" she asked in what seemed like a single breath.

Calming Athena down to the point that answers to her questions could actually be heard was quite a task. As for the answers themselves:

Apollo had come by the community garden where Juniper volunteered her time on most weekends, and after greeting her, he'd stammered and rambled for a moment before taking a breath and beginning what Juniper had suspected was a practiced speech. Even with his words chosen in advance, Apollo had still spoken them in an uneven and nervous voice, accelerating as he reached the point. He'd come to ask Juniper if she would be interested in meeting him for dinner that evening, and Juniper remembered her own face erupting into a luminescent blush, bits of loose dirt falling to the ground around her as she clapped her hands to her mouth in shock.

Sure, she'd been nurturing a certain attraction to Apollo ever since their first few meetings, - something not lost on Athena - but she'd never really entertained the idea of actually dating him outside of the occasional idle fantasy.

The way she mirrored his inarticulate stammering in reply caused an uncomfortable moment in which she and Apollo just stared at one another, only moving once Juniper realized that, for all the words she'd gotten out, she might not have actually made her answer to him clear.

"Y-Yes, of course-... I-I'd love to-!"

Only once Apollo heard those words did he finally manage to overcome his nervousness and fumble his way through telling her where they would meet up later that day. There was a café which Trucy had recommended to him, its address scribbled on a bit of crumpled paper in his pocket.

Athena's attention had rapidly turned to helping Juniper prepare for her date, all other priorities thrown aside in a hurry.

* * *

There was another memory she recalled just as distinctly, this one from just a few months ago.

Her trip from the familiar office of her family doctor to the increasingly familiar Wright Anything Agency was a blur, like she'd made the journey in a trance. She'd been welcomed into the office by all its usual occupants, all of whom she expected to be very interested in her news, but Apollo was the person she'd come mainly to see.

"Hey," he'd said with a grin on his face when she approached, "Everything checked out with your appointment?"

The edge of concern in his voice had only made it harder to reply.

"Yes, b-but there's something-..." she'd managed before tensing up, expecting her voice to be lost to a coughing fit. She was getting better as she spent more of her time in the city, but she always felt healthiest out in the mountains. Giving her best effort, she'd kept her breaths under control, steeling herself for her answer to Apollo's inquiry. "I-... A-Apollo, I'm..."

He'd eyed her curiously when she trailed off. There was a moment of hesitation before he took a step toward her, raising a hand toward her face.

Juniper stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Apollo, I'm... pregnant."

If Juniper weren't so overwhelmed by her own emotions at the moment, she might have laughed at the way her boyfriend's face instantly lost any and all of its colour. Apollo frequently reacted to shock like this, but by the look of it, this news had hit him harder than anything Juniper had ever seen.

That said, while Apollo's reaction was stunned silence, the room's three other occupants responded with anything but.

Apollo made his first sound since the news hit when a blur of red hair swooped in to pull him and Juniper into a crushing hug. Vocally, Athena was in the same headspace as she'd been when Juniper confirmed to her that she had her first date with Apollo. Her mouth ran wild with ecstatic ramblings and the occasional louder cluster of syllables.

Trucy joined the impromptu embrace from the opposite side, turning their group into a tight-knit throng that somehow took up only marginally more floor space than Apollo alone usually did. Limbs were helplessly entangled to the point that their owners lost track of which belonged to whom, and the voices of Athena and Trucy melded together to create a shrill harmony which made the group glad that they didn't share this building with anyone else.

Even Phoenix, meanwhile, responded to the news with brief shock followed by remarks of congratulations and something like pride.

"Polly's gonna be a _dad,_ Athena!" Trucy cheered, meeting the redhead's gaze from between the trapped faces of Juniper and Apollo. "I'm-... W-We're gonna be _aunts-!"_

Athena was no less excited. "You're gonna be the best parents in the world!" she chimed to her two nearest friends. Widget was just as exuberant as his owner, chirping every single thought Athena had that wasn't making its way out of her mouth.

The girls finally saw fit to let Apollo and Juniper stand freely again, and tension suddenly fell over the group as Apollo failed to say anything in response.

Juniper felt the infectious joy that she'd picked up from her friends run cold all at once. Apollo's expression was totally unreadable. Horrible, screaming thoughts began to tear through her mind. He was going to be horrified, not excited - Apollo wasn't ready for this sort of responsibility yet, everything was going to go wrong-

Juniper was the one to be shocked as Apollo, still uncharacteristically mute in his revelation, suddenly closed the distance between himself and her to circle his arms around her back and pull her into a deep kiss. Juniper only just had time to react to the change before her lips were free again, and Apollo's gentle embrace became a strong grip around her as the defence attorney lifted her right off the floor and twirled her around him, Trucy and Athena stepping back just in time.

When Juniper's feet met the ground again, her gaze was unavoidably drawn to meet Apollo's eyes. His previously blank expression was now the brightest smile she thought she'd ever seen on any person in her lifetime. He gazed at her with nothing but the utmost love and care, and everything else in Juniper's world momentarily ceased to exist.

* * *

Footsteps broke Juniper out of her reverie. She looked up just in time, setting aside the book in her slack grip as Apollo lowered himself in front of her, taking her hand with one of his own and placing the other over her exposed belly. His firm palm traced over her skin as gently as anything, and Juniper felt an overwhelming warmth set into her entire body.

"Everything OK for now?" he asked her. "Anything I need to get for you?"

Juniper just smiled at her fiancé at first. His concern for her never wavered, even on evenings as calm as this one.

"Did you already pick up the yogurt?" she asked him.

Apollo's smile twitched. "Uhh... I-I forgot-!" he uttered, suddenly alarmed. Juniper tried to soothe him with a gentle hand, but Apollo was already up on his feet. "I'll be back right away!" he exclaimed. He leaned in to press a kiss to her lips briefly, then did the same for the bump on her stomach before backing up in a hurry. Juniper giggled, gesturing for him to calm down.

"It's OK," she assured him, "I can wait. Why don't you just sit with me for now?" She indicated the open space to her left on the loveseat.

Apollo considered it, but his expression remained the same. "No," he said, "I should get over there before the store closes up. Back in fifteen!"

And then he was out of the room. Juniper watched the empty door frame for a moment before sighing and leaning back again.

She'd hoped he wouldn't get himself too worked up, but then again... she really _did_ want that yogurt.

* * *

 _Just imagine how everyone reacted to their engagement a while after the **last** announcement. It's a wonder Trucy and Athena are still in one piece._

 _I'm about as affectionate toward Junipollo and I am toward Justicykes. Both are great, but they fall behind my favourite just a bit. We're still not up to the number-one spot, mind you. See you 'round next time, when we'll visit a universe where Apollo prefers a particular ex-rockstar._


	4. Headlines

A shuffling of papers followed by a dull _thump_ from the coffee table before Apollo's seat drew his attention away from the folder in his hands. He looked up to see a single magazine with an eye-catching cover, which had just been dropped onto the table.

... Was it that time already?

About to speak, Apollo was surprised as several more magazines dropped into place atop the first. Five, six, seven...

"Ho- _ly-_... Where'd you find all these...?" he asked, leaning forward to leaf through the stack. Behind the pile - nine magazines in total - stood the tall figure of Klavier Gavin, dressed just a touch more casually than normal.

"It's just a busy week, Herr Forehead." Klavier replied jovially, watching as he looked through the contents of the pile.

"You're tellin' me... Oh, wow, look at this one..."

Klavier leaned in to check the page Apollo had on display. Examining the grainy photo emblazoned across its centre, he found what he recognized to be a trip he'd made to pick up Trucy Wright from one of her recent magic shows, as a favour to her father when he'd been delayed in arriving.

 **"KLAVIER GAVIN LIKES THEM YOUNG?"**

"Ach..." he muttered, spotting the cheerful grin on the teen magician's face, just visible in the photo. "A tactful headline, ja?"

"Speaking of Trucy, she's coming over, with Athena." Apollo said. "Should be here any minute."

"Hmm..." Klavier mumbled, still focused on the photograph.

"Hey," Apollo prodded, getting him to look up again, "That doesn't bother you, right?"

"Oh-... Nein, not at all." Klavier answered. "They won't want to miss this."

* * *

Trucy arrived within ten minutes, Athena in tow. The small house that Apollo and Klavier awaited them in was a place that Klavier owned, which he used when he wanted to lay low from the eye of the tabloids.

Recently, that was the majority of the time. He had no shortage of experience in dealing with the parasites of the lesser press, but Apollo wasn't so practiced. Given that he'd been dating the defence lawyer for nearly two months now, and had so far maintained a decent record of keeping him free of that hassle, the prosecutor and ex-rockstar had been spending quite a lot more of his time in this little house than he was used to. Of course, considering more recent events, he wondered whether there was any point to the effort any more.

"Hey, Polly!" Trucy said brightly, hugging the defence lawyer without delay once she was in the door. Athena watched, and ambushed Apollo once Trucy was done, outdoing her hug in intensity by at least a few points.

"Oww..." Apollo groaned when Athena released him, rubbing at a spot in his ribs. "Hi, Athena." he muttered while she smirked at him.

Apollo was the only one left in the room without a smirk or grin on his face, he realized as he turned around. Klavier and Trucy looked cheerfully eager for their upcoming activity.

This would be the third time that the group met up for their weekly evening of looking through the city's expansive library of trashy tabloid magazines for whatever "news" had been dredged up about the illusive Klavier Gavin during the week.

This time around, though, there was a particular photo that Klavier and Apollo fully expected to see which they were certain would be quite the surprise to their friends.

Klavier beckoned the group to the living room's wide couch, and they sat in a row, Apollo directly between his boyfriend and Trucy.

"OK, first on the board," he said, picking up the topmost magazine from the stack, "We've got... Damn, that's a _flattering_ one."

Trucy giggled. Athena leaned past her to see for herself. The photo spread across the magazine's cover was a shot of Klavier descending the front steps of the courthouse, his head turned back a ways to respond to a comment from someone behind him. The angle had the effect of making his neck look rather strange. The cramped block of text next to the image said something suggesting an article about an apparent double chin developing on Klavier's face. This was, of course, just a trick of the photo's angle; something a child could have recognized.

"Guy must've been desperate for his pay on this one..." Athena remarked, grabbing the next magazine from the pile. "Oh, hey," she said, "Check this out."

The group turned. Athena flashed the magazine's cover. A candid photo of Klavier seated at a familiar bar was spread over the glossy cover.

"Wait, that's..." Apollo began, leaning in for a better look, "Oh, good, they tracked us to The Corner Pocket." He sighed. "Don't tell Ema, or she'll never want to go for drinks again."

Apollo himself was not clearly visible in the photo, though his jacket could be narrowly seen. Ema, however, was plainly visible next to him, her lab coat unmistakable.

The next few photos demonstrated that attempting to avoid the watchful eyes of tabloid photographers was really a losing battle. Similar further candid images of Klavier going about his day could be seen all around.

Apollo leaned toward the table and checked the next few, rather than just taking the immediate next off the stack.

"Oh-!" he uttered, slipping a magazine out of the pile and clutching it to his side and out of view.

"What?" Trucy asked curiously, looking down at the concealed cover.

"I've been waiting for this one." Apollo said, a little smile on his face.

* * *

Two days earlier, Apollo had been out for lunch with his boyfriend, Klavier keeping his identity mostly concealed with a blue hoodie covering everything but his face, and a heavy pair of sunglasses beneath his hood. The small coffee shop they'd stopped by had a group of tables out front, where they were seated.

The pair had been discussing the impact that their relationship might have on their respective careers, and the conversation was becoming frustrating for the defence attorney.

"Maybe I'm just being stupid, Klav, but sometimes it starts to feel like you're doing this more for yourself than anyone else." he said, indicating the heavy clothes the prosecutor had on to conceal himself.

Klavier frowned. "Believe me when I say, Herr Forehead, that you'll be much happier the longer I can keep those cameras away from you."

"Klav, I don't _care_ about them." Apollo countered. "So what if they snap a few photos for their trashy magazines? I'm not a celebrity like you. They're only ever going to get on my trail if it relates to _you_ somehow."

Klavier reclined in his chair a bit. "I think you're underestimating them, liebe."

Apollo reflexively twitched his hand in response to Klavier's last word. Out the corner of his eye, he could see a particular person he'd been keeping an eye on ever since they'd arrived. The man had exactly the kind of look Klavier had described to him when speaking of tabloid photographers out on the streets.

Looking the other way, he watched for their waitress. She was making her rounds, carrying several trays between the tables at the moment.

"Hey," Apollo said, "Stand up for a second, would you?"

Klavier gave him a curious look, but obeyed, getting to his feet. Apollo did the same, watching the photographer again.

He waited a few seconds, during which time Klavier just looked back at him in slight confusion. Then, he spotted his chance. Taking a sudden step forward, Apollo raised a hand and tossed Klavier's hood off his head, earning a stammer of surprise. The sunlight struck his long blond hair, tied into its signature spiraling curl, and Apollo lunged into him, claiming his lips in a kiss.

Klavier stumbled in surprise, unused to Apollo being this forward. He glanced around desperately, hoping no one of note would notice.

Still pressing his lips tightly to Klavier's, Apollo grinned against his mouth as he caught the sound of a camera's lens clicking several times over.

* * *

Trucy and Athena gave synchronized squeaks of surprise.

The magazine in Apollo's hands displayed a wide and clear image of him, dressed casually and out in the public streets. More interestingly, he was gripping tightly at the jacket of the tall figure in front of him, easily identified as Klavier himself.

There was no mistaking the lip-lock the two were engaged in. Klavier's sunglasses didn't conceal a thing.

"Ooh..." Trucy cooed at the sight.

"Damn, Apollo, I didn't know you had that in you." Athena remarked, sounding genuinely impressed.

"Ja," Klavier said with an amused sigh, "I think our Herr Forehead has ruined any chance of keeping himself out of the public view from now on."

Apollo shot him a smirk.

 **"INSIDE: KLAV GAV'S NEW BEAU",** the cover promised.

* * *

 _I'm not a **huge** fan of Klapollo, mostly because I don't feel like the games have given the pair enough screen time to really flesh out a relationship, but it still makes my list of favoured Apollo pairings._

 _Next up, and it's an unconventional one, a universe with an Apollo looking into the older demographic for a roboticist from his past._


	5. Small Shock

Athena spent far less time with work or other activities related to her qualifications as a psychologist than with her work as a defence lawyer, but she never let the former get rusty.

Being empathetic almost to excess, she couldn't help herself whenever she wanted to really understand a person.

Understanding Aura Blackquill as a person was an effort that kept had her curious for quite some time, and she thought it would likely continue that way for a while yet to come. She doubted that Aura would ever consider her a friend; the animosity for her that the roboticist had spent so many years bottling up and stewing on made for a very sturdy barrier. Still, visiting Aura during her eight months in prison - something Aura needed three visits to become accepting of - had gone a long way to patching over the many holes that the UR-1 incident and its eventual retrial had carved into their strained relationship.

Aura was no longer in prison these days. The sentence that the Wright Anything Agency had secured for her was drastically lessened from its original proposal. Eight months in prison, followed by two years of house arrest. Aura had given her small one-bedroom house to her brother when she was arrested, and rather than returning after her release, she was allowed to take a room in the living quarters of the space centre. The conditions of her sentencing even allowed her to return to her work there, albeit with roughly two thirds of her working hours acting as unpaid community service.

Athena thought that Aura was happy about her situation. It was hard to tell with her. The sessions she had semi-frequently spent with her late mother's colleague, helping her to work through her resentment over the UR-1 incident had seen a gradual decline in Aura's overall rudeness and the occasional hint of unconcealed gratefulness, at least. There was still a long way to go, and Athena wasn't about to back down.

* * *

A Friday afternoon found Athena only halfway focused on her most recent collection of assorted paperwork at the law office. Her pen traced lightly through the air an inch away from her page, her idle thoughts occupied by her plans to drop by the space centre in the evening for another brief visit with Aura. She wasn't certain of what she'd do afterward. She'd learned fairly quickly that Aura liked to have most of her Friday evenings to herself, but Athena had insisted on at least a short visit all the same.

Thinking her other plans over, she spun her chair around. The familiar sound drew Apollo's attention off his own work. He looked up.

"What's up?" he asked, quite used to the telltale signs of Athena's boredom or other various distractions.

"I'm just thinking," Athena replied, slack in her chair, her legs sprawled out across the carpeted floor, "Are you gonna be doing anything later on tonight? I think I'm gonna end up being kinda bored most of the evening."

Apollo smirked, and Athena gave him a questioning look. "Actually," he said, a hint of smugness audible in his voice, "I've got a date tonight."

Athena nearly fell from her chair. She spent a few seconds awkwardly fumbling her way back into it with just her arms.

"W-What-!?" she sputtered as she went. "A date!? _You,_ _ **Apollo Justice,**_ have a date!?"

"OK, _ouch."_ Apollo started by remarking. "Just because I don't buy into Trucy's plans for getting my love life going, doesn't mean I can't go out and try for myself."

"W-Well, sure, but-..." Athena felt blindsided by this. Apollo was such an oblivious kind of guy that, for all the time she'd spent gossiping with Trucy and Pearl, Athena had always had a hard time really imagining him in an actual relationship with anyone. "That's just-... Uhh, wow, that's news." She still couldn't find a proper reply.

 _"Who'd you rope into it?"_ a digitized voice chirped from her necklace. Athena groaned quietly at Widget's blunt outburst.

Apollo's smirk returned. "Sorry, Athena. I'm not telling you _or_ Widget."

Athena flinched with surprise and sat up straight. "Hey, that's not fair!" she said indignantly. She kicked off to roll her chair forward and closer to his desk. "If I had a date, I'd be all over telling you who it was!"

"That might be true," Apollo conceded, "But d'you really think I wanna give Trucy that kind of ammo? There's no way _you'd_ ever stay quiet if I told you."

Athena opened her mouth for another pleading response, but the words didn't form. Apollo had a point, even if she didn't like it. She fumbled for words for a few more seconds, but had to give up.

"Ugh..." she grumbled, spinning her chair back around and returning to her own desk. She could practically _hear_ Apollo's look of smugness from behind her.

Well, she definitely wasn't going to be focused on her work _now._

* * *

Athena hopped from the raised platform at the exit of the bus and waved over her shoulder to the driver.

Just the sight of the space centre had once caused her an awful sense of disquiet, but she was past that part of her life. Thanks to her close friends, she'd overcome the lingering trauma of what had happened there years ago.

She strolled into the lobby, finding it near empty. Making a straight line for the living quarters, she took the two minute walk as a chance to quickly run through everything she wanted to discuss with Aura this evening.

Busily occupied by her thoughts, Athena realized a bit slower than normal that Aura was taking an unusually long time to answer the door. She tapped the digital interface on the panel beside the door which acted as a sort of doorbell once again.

For another twenty seconds, there was nothing. Athena dug into her shoulder-slung bag and retrieved her phone. She idly looked it over, wishing she could just text Apollo and see what he was up to. She scrolled through her other contacts. Trucy, Simon, Junie-

She looked up when the door abruptly opened.

"Hey-... **!** "

Her voice broke from its ordinary greeting and became a confused and inarticulate noise.

Apollo was standing in the doorway.

"Oh-... A-Athena, oh, God-... umm..."

The pair just looked at one another for a few seconds, Apollo looking horribly embarrassed and Athena just plain confused.

"Uhh... hi...?" she managed.

Apollo made a noise similar to an engine that wouldn't start. He was dressed in his favourite casual wear, and right now, his face was burning as red as his hoodie.

Athena caught footsteps from inside the room behind Apollo.

"Apollo, what's-... Oh. Hey, Athena."

The figure of Apollo became a blur in the corner of Athena's vision as her eyes fixated on the person approaching from behind him.

Without waiting for a response, Aura stepped into place directly behind Apollo. She seemed to surprise him by firmly pushing down on his shoulder with a hand, causing his knees to buckle partway. Apollo slumped forward before catching himself, and Aura took the chance to lean over him and plant her chest directly on his head, resting an arm there as well.

If it was possible, Apollo's face - already as red as a severe sunburn - managed to darken yet further. Athena, too, felt fairly sure that her own face was heating up at least a bit.

Aura was wearing a broad smirk as she leaned onto Apollo in just the same way that she did with her robots. Athena couldn't help but notice that Aura, wearing jeans and a somewhat revealing top, was rather obviously focusing the weight of her ample chest directly onto Apollo's head quite deliberately.

"Oh, sorry," she said with a distinct air of mocking plain in her voice, "Is this making you feel uncomfortable, Princess? I can't really help that - Apollo just makes _such_ a good support."

Athena caught Apollo's eye before he could avert his gaze.

"What're you doing here?" she asked. "You said you were going on a da-... Wait, no. No, no _no nonono **no.** "_

Aura's smirk widened. She glanced downward at Apollo and said in a stage whisper, _"I think she's caught up."_ Looking back up to Athena again, she added, "I can see the gears in your head turning from here."

Athena just stared back and forth between Apollo, still hunched beneath the weight of Aura's chest, and Aura herself, her mouth hanging open in disbelief.

"Come on, Athena. You and Simon weren't the only people who visited me back in prison."

"B-But-..."

Aura tilted her head and went on. "Of course, for the first while, Apollo wasn't so friendly. He wanted to ask me why I put so many people in danger just for Simon's sake, particularly your magician friend. We talked a lot, and he... warmed up, eventually. Still, _this_ was a bit of a change for both of us."

Athena had a thousand replies swirling around in her head, but not a single one made it into words. She was surprised that she hadn't started dripping drool onto the floor, the way her mouth continued to hang open.

"Apollo asked me out, actually." Aura continued, clearly relishing every second of this. "He practically stuttered himself into silence first, mind you, but I still got the point. It seems like your friend's had a bit of a crush on me for a while now."

Apollo managed an indistinct mumble, which was the first thing he'd said since Aura's arrival.

"Yeah, I agree." Aura quipped in response. "Sorry, Athena, but I'm gonna have to cancel on our meet-up tonight. Me and Apollo here are gonna be busy."

* * *

Aura gave Athena a few seconds, but the girl still seemed too stunned to formulate any proper response. The older woman silently waved with her free hand and closed the door.

"... _Aura_..." Apollo grumbled once she took her weight off his head and let him stand up straight again.

"Oh, she'll be fine." Aura said with a smirk. "You saw her; her pretty little orange head is still intact, no matter how blown away she was."

Apollo rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands into his pockets and grazing his fingertips over his phone. He made a mental note to apologize to Athena later on.

"Now c'mon," Aura said, crossing her arms over her chest and giving him a look that did nothing to help his reddened face cool off, "Where were we...?"

Apollo followed as Aura led him back to the couch a short ways into her living quarters. His phone buzzed, and he stopped to check it.

A message from Athena popped up on the screen, clearly typed in great haste.

- _She's almost old enough to be your_ _ **mom!**_ _-_

He clamped a finger to the phone's power button and turned it off, stowing it back in his pocket.

* * *

 _Aurapollo, as I'm going to call it, is the kind of practically non-existent pairing that I'm genuinely interested in reading more of._

 _Next universe over, we'll find Apollo in something else I've written before._


	6. Invisible Ink

Until the more recent years of his life, Apollo was unused to having many people around him celebrate - or even so much as acknowledge - his birthday. He remembered some from his childhood, but without an immediate family or a long list of friends, he was mostly left to wish himself a happy birthday and move on with business as usual.

This was one of the many things to change once he was dragged only halfway-willingly into the makeshift family that was the Wright Anything Agency. Apollo didn't much care for discussing his past, but Trucy hadn't needed long at all to grill him for all the information she could manage. His birthday was one of her first priorities.

It wasn't long after the first time that Trucy threw a party for his birthday that several more things changed. Athena joined the Agency, foremost, and the inexhaustible passion that she put into her friendships would no doubt add another layer to the new attention that Apollo's birthday received.

There was one other major change that made a contribution as well. In the aftermath of the UR-1 retrial and the storm of conflicted emotions that the event created in Apollo's life, he found unexpected comfort in the company of homicide detective Ema Skye.

Ema had been a friend of his since the earlier days of his fledgling career, but Apollo hadn't ever taken her for the sort of person to offer her support with the complex emotional baggage of others. Despite his surprise, however, Apollo found the detective to be an indispensible help. On most days, he and Ema would have made a long conversation of trading their respective frustrations with their work, sometimes trying to outdo one another with their stories, but with Apollo's frayed emotional state following the death of Clay Terran and the ensuing trial, Ema acted with care and caution that Apollo would never have expected. She listened to him at length, patiently awaiting every last word he had to say, never prying or questioning him unless he was finished.

It was an even greater surprise when one of their long conversations came to an end with Ema setting aside her ever-present bag of chocolate Snackoos to look Apollo in the eye and pull him into a wordless hug. He'd come to understand Ema as a person better than ever before with these discussions. She'd been disappointed by the way her own life was turning out, but in this case, she didn't let her own issues take any priority over his.

Apollo wasn't sure of exactly how it happened, but somehow, from that one moment, sitting on the couch in the small house Ema shared with her older sister, their embrace had graduated to a kiss. It was soft; not without a clear meaning behind it, but also keeping itself clearly restrained.

So it was that his friendship with Ema Skye took a rather sudden turn to develop itself into something more.

* * *

On the date of his twenty-fourth birthday, Apollo made his way into work with a fairly clear estimation of what to expect.

Finding the office decked out in the same kinds of bright and lively colours that Trucy had picked out the year before was no surprise, but it was a pleasant thing to walk into all the same. He had a fun time of picking out the decorations more in line with Athena's preferences, yet Apollo noticed one thing which did surprise him.

Ema had the day off today, but so far as he could tell, there appeared to be no sign of her presence or influence here in the office at all. He tried not to look conspicuous as he wandered aimlessly about for a minute or so, taking in the sights of Trucy and Athena's decor, but saw nothing to indicate his girlfriend's hand in the mix.

Was it selfish to feel disappointed? He headed for his desk as usual, wondering to himself. Maybe Ema was going to meet up with him later on. There could be any number of things she could plan or be delayed by.

He rolled his chair out from his desk and stopped.

A spray bottle was resting on the seat of his chair. Luminol, by the look of it. A _real_ surprise would be if anyone other than Ema were responsible for its presence. He picked it up, and his fingers grazed over a sticky note pinned to its side.

"Take a look around." was all it read.

He checked the underside of the note, but it was blank.

(What are you up to, Em...?)

Opening the first of the two drawers on his desk, Apollo found nothing out of the ordinary.

"Oh, right..." he muttered, spotting the pair of special pink-tinted glasses Ema had given him months ago. He picked them up and put them on before closing the drawer and opening the other. Most of the second drawer's contents were familiar, but a single sheet of blank paper had been left on top of everything else. "Hmm..."

Apollo gave the paper a cursory spray from the Luminol bottle on either side. It was faint, but the spray produced a reaction. Words could be made out, glowing a familiar blue. They had to have been written with something that the chemical would react to.

"See you at your place for lunch. It's clear with Mr. Wright."

He checked over both sides again, but that appeared to be all there was to the message. Apollo wondered about giving the surface of his desk a once-over with the Luminol, but didn't really feel like cleaning it up afterward.

Putting aside the bottle, he got to his usual work, keeping Ema's message in mind.

* * *

Come noon, Apollo left the office. Normally, he would have stayed and gone out with Athena and Trucy for lunch. He returned to his apartment on his bike, part of him regretting having to get involved in the lunchtime traffic.

He found the door to his apartment unlocked. Was Ema inside? He hoped so. Once inside, he glanced around.

"Ema? You here?"

No response.

Apollo cast another curious look around and spotted another blank sheet of paper, just like the one from his desk, resting on the kitchen table. Glad he'd thought to bring the Luminol along in his backpack, he gave it a quick spray as well. As expected, another short message became visible once he'd put on his glasses.

"Bathroom mirror."

Apollo raised an eyebrow. What was Ema's game?

He headed for the bathroom and switched the light on. Immediately, the unusual object sitting on the edge of the sink caught his notice. It was a bottle of what was quite unmistakably Ema's fingerprinting powder. Was he supposed to search for prints? He checked over the mirror, as indicated by the note. It looked very clean. Perhaps Ema had wiped it down; with enough effort, that could remove the countless fingerprints that must have been on it. He picked up the bottle of powder, putting aside the Luminol and glasses. Starting from the top-left, he applied the powder, and noticed something almost immediately. Clearing away the excess powder, he could see what looked like a straight line downward, made up of clear fingerprints. It was much too neat to be anything but deliberate. He applied more of the powder, and the line revealed itself to be a capitalized I.

He looked over more of the mirror, and what seemed like another letter appeared. He kept working at it.

"I... L... O..."

He stopped, a little smile tugging at his lip. Suddenly, the sound of a door opening caught his notice from behind. He looked out of the room and found Ema herself, standing just outside of his bedroom with a bright smile.

"I love you too, Ema." he said.

* * *

 _You might guess from my other fics, but Emapollo is my personal favourite pairing for Apollo. Justicykes is a damn close second, but the grumpy dynamic that Ema and Apollo struck up in Apollo's debut game secured the top spot for me._

 _Our next time back will give us a look into the life of an Apollo with a partner of similar forehead status._


	7. Headroom

No phones were ringing. The sound of the city traffic was but a distant rumble, muted by closed windows. Trucy wasn't making anything explode or otherwise produce any kind of theatrical noise. Athena wasn't energetically speaking her mind, accompanied by the occasional outburst from Widget.

It wasn't to say that Apollo disliked most of those sounds - the office phone might indicate a potential new client, and Trucy and Athena were two of his closest friends. More often than not, he had as much fun as they did with their day-to-day antics at the office. Still, this afternoon's near-silence in the Wright Anything Agency was welcome to him.

The law office _was_ helping a client today, as a matter of fact. Athena and Mr. Wright had made their way to the detention centre and out for a subsequent investigation about two hours earlier, and, most unusually, Apollo had asked to sit out the first day's field work. He would meet back up with them for a rundown of everything they'd learned at the end of the day, and join them for the trial the next, but for now, there was something else he wanted to attend to.

Trucy had some new magic trick she'd been working on and was being quite secretive about, and it was for the sake of her practice that she too was out of the office at the moment.

This arrangement might have left Apollo alone in the office, but there was one outlying factor.

* * *

Apollo crossed the room, preoccupied with the three thick folders in his arms.

"Hey," he said, glancing briefly toward the figure half-covered by the desk beside him. A familiar pair of sandaled feet was laid across the floor, most of their owner's body crouched beneath the desk. "These are from Mr. Wright's third year. D'you know where they ought to go?"

"Hmm…"

Apollo awaited an answer, but jolted in surprise when he instead heard a _thump_ and a sudden squeak of pain.

"H-Hey-!" he stammered, stooping to the floor and setting the folders down. "You OK?"

"Oww…"

Pearl Fey shuffled out from beneath the desk, bringing up a hand to gingerly brush her fingers over the spot at which she'd apparently just struck her head. The pretzel-like loops she wore her hair in almost seemed to wilt on their own.

"That didn't sound good." Apollo remarked. "You didn't hit yourself too hard, did you?"

Pearl briefly clutched at the affected spot on her head, but relaxed a moment later, sitting back on the floor with a smile.

"Thanks, but I'm fine, Mr. Apollo." she said.

Apollo hesitantly grinned. Pearl didn't sound worried. She was an extremely polite girl, but he guessed that she'd have the sense to tell him if she really was badly hurt.

"Here, let me see those." Pearl said, scooping up the discarded folders.

As she pored over their contents, Apollo took a moment to glance over the top of her head, where she'd hit herself on the desk. Given Pearl's particular hairstyle, it was hard to see if there was a bump forming on her head. He couldn't bite down his slight worry, though she still seemed perfectly alright.

Apollo's reason for staying behind in the office today was quite a simple one: the Agency was an utter mess. Owing to an unusual amount of recent work for all the people there, minimal time had been available for organization or cleaning for nearly two weeks running. While Apollo's own desk was rarely a picture of cleanliness or organization, he wasn't especially fond of the idea that a potential client might walk through the office's door and see it in its state of disorder, so he'd elected to put in the effort to clean the place up.

To his immense good fortune, today had also seen Pearl drop in for a visit. She was a seasoned veteran of cleaning this office, as Apollo understood it.

Pearl was still looking intently through the files he'd handed to her. Apollo waited a moment, and lowered himself to the floor. He took a look at what she'd been working on beneath the desk. Pressed up against the wall to save space, the desk was backed by a shelf of boxes and similar file folders. He'd never taken the time to really dig through the more remotely located contents of the office's shelves, and most of what he could see here was new to him. He shuffled in beneath the desk in Pearl's place, bracing an elbow against the floor.

An open box filled with unremarkable scraps of paper was on the floor just before the shelf. He pushed it aside after briefly scanning over its contents. It looked as if Pearl had been organizing the contents of the lowest shelf. Apollo located what he best guessed to be the place Pearl had intended for the box and took another from the less-than organized space to its right.

The box he'd picked up had a smudged bit of writing in marker on its top. It was hard to make out what it said. He opened it and checked over its contents.

A series of photos met his observation. He immediately spotted the familiar sight of Mr. Wright on the first, though he guessed this particular photo to be somewhere around nine or ten years old, judging by how much younger his mentor looked. Mr. Wright had a mildly nervous grin on his face, and was flanked by a young woman with charcoal-black hair, who was doubling over with laughter. Apollo recognized the woman to be Mr. Wright's old assistant. Maya, he believed was her name. He hadn't met her personally, but going off the way Mr. Wright and Trucy spoke of her, she was very close to both of them.

It was strange, but Apollo felt fascinated, somehow, by the photo, and curious about the others in the box. He flipped past the first. The second caught his attention even more. Maya was plainly seen in the centre of the frame, but more notably, a young girl that appeared very familiar to Apollo was there as well. The pair had matching grins on their faces, the younger girl receiving a hug from behind by Maya.

It was Pearl. There was no mistaking her face, nor her distinctive hairstyle. Apollo gazed at the photo, wondering to himself. It looked about as old as the other, so Pearl would probably be somewhere around nine years old in this one. No older than ten, at the most, considering that she was now eighteen as of a few months ago. The younger Pearl wore the same kind of Kurain channeling robes as today, and aside from her hair now being long enough to style a touch differently, she looked much the same as she did now.

(Not even much taller, come to think of it…)

Apollo poked through a few more of the photos in the box. The trio of Mr. Wright, Maya, and Pearl were the most common sights in the lot, though a few other people made recurring appearances as well. Toward the second half of the set, another young girl began to appear. It took Apollo three photos to figure out why she looked so familiar as well. Once he saw the girl in a pink magician's outfit, Trucy's identity became glaringly obvious. He did a double-take shortly after at one photo of a person he was almost certain was the Chief Prosecutor. The man had a thin smile on his face, though he looked less than comfortable with his situation. The younger Trucy was perched on his shoulders, pointing excitedly at something out of the frame. Truth be told, it was always difficult for Apollo to reconcile the serious-faced man who led the Prosecutor's Office and the person Trucy often referred to as "Uncle Edgeworth". He flipped the photo out of his view, finding it too strange to keep looking at.

He had the sudden thought that Pearl might like to see all these pictures for herself. He made to stand up, having become so immersed in his viewing of the photo collection that he momentarily forgot just where he was.

 _ **-THUMP-**_

A sharp pain shot through Apollo's body, starting from the top of his head. He crumpled to the floor, feeling like something had just split his head open.

"A-Apollo-!"

He faintly registered a shocked voice before a firm grip on his shoulders dragged him out from beneath the desk. He was face-down with a cheek to the carpeted floor when Pearl's face swam into his blurred view.

"Are you alright…?" Pearl's voice was soft and filled with concern.

Truthfully, Apollo felt anything but alright. He groaned, not feeling brave enough to raise a hand and check on the bruise no doubt developing on his scalp.

"Here, let me help…"

Pearl's surprisingly strong arms lifted him up until he could roll into a sitting position. The girl crouched on the floor in front of him. She'd put aside her folders and was looking him over with an expression of concern.

Not feeling like saying very much between his embarrassment at doing exactly the thing that Pearl had accidentally done just a few minutes ago and the dull pain throbbing in his head, he just sat in silence while the girl examined his injury.

He realized that she'd just called him by his name a moment ago. Usually, it was "Mr. Apollo" to her. It was more of a nickname than anything, just like she called Mr. Wright "Mr. Nick".

Without saying anything, he fumbled behind himself for the box of photos and dragged it into Pearl's view.

"I thought you'd like to see these." he mumbled, wary of doing anything to make the pain in his head any worse.

Pearl glanced at the photos and paused. A smile tugged at her lips. Apollo gestured for her to pick them up, and after hesitating, she did.

"Oh…" her voice came out soft and nostalgic. She leafed through the photos, smiling and giggling at a few here or there.

* * *

It was a fair while before Apollo idly glanced at the clock hanging near his desk and jumped in place a bit out of surprise.

"It's that late already-!?"

Pearl looked up as well.

The pair had been looking through the collection of photos, it seemed, for nearly an hour already. Pearl had often pointed one out with a laugh and explained the circumstances behind it. Until now, Apollo hadn't known just how much of the girl's childhood had been spent here with her cousin, Mr. Wright, and later Trucy.

"Uhh…" he uttered, feeling a bit blindsided by the sudden realization of just how much time had already passed. "You wanna go and get some lunch, or something?" he inquired.

Pearl reacted rather strangely. As if he'd said something quite shocking, she raised a hand to her face, her fingertips ghosting over her lips in a look of bewilderment.

"Oh-… I…"

Apollo waited, wondering what was going through Pearl's head.

"S-Sure!" Pearl replied after a moment of floundering for words. "Where would you like to go?"

Apollo still wondered why Pearl was responding the way she was, but he put it aside for now. "I guess… You want noodles? Or a burger, maybe?"

Pearl got to her feet. "It's been a long time since Mr. Nick took us for burgers! I think Mystic Maya's favourite place is open today. Why don't we go there?"

"Sure." Apollo said, getting up as well.

He followed Pearl to the door, throwing on a jacket. As they stepped out and headed for the doors, Pearl spoke up again.

"I'd never tried city food until the first time Mystic Maya brought me here." she said, skipping down the short hallway to the office's entrance. "I can't eat as much as she does, but she showed me all kinds of great things."

Apollo held the door open for her, and Pearl stepped out, still talking cheerfully about her past visits to the city from Kurain Village.

She was just in the middle of one such remark when she and Apollo heard a rather shocked gasp from somewhere behind them. Pearl spun around, and in a flash of purple, something swung into Apollo's field of vision.

 _ **-WHAM-**_

Apollo let out a yelp as he was momentarily blinded by something striking him square in the face. He staggered, clutching at the vicinity of his eye.

A voice could be heard.

"P-Pearly-!? Y-You and Polly…!?"

Trucy. Apollo tried to open his eyes again, and felt dizzy. He nearly fell over before Pearl's arm caught beneath his chest.

"Oh my goodness - Apollo, I'm sorry!"

Pearl gently lifted his chin up to look over his face. Apollo felt as if he might be developing a black eye. He guessed that Pearl's sudden spin had caused the large bead dangling from her hair to swing into him like a thrown rock.

Finally, his dizziness cleared. He saw Trucy standing just a few steps away, a look of shock plain on her face.

"Hey, Trucy…" he muttered, hoping that his eye didn't look too bad. Pearl was still examining the spot.

"Y-You two are…!? Pearly, why didn't you tell me!?" Trucy squeaked, sounding more shocked by something than Apollo had ever heard her.

"Trucy," Pearl said, turning her attention to her other friend, "H-He only just asked me now."

"Well-…" Trucy stammered. "Y-You'd better tell me everything after you guys get back! And Polly, I'll never forgive you if you screw this up!"

Apollo didn't have the faintest idea of what the two girls were talking about. He almost wished that Trucy would just show concern for his possibly-injured eye, instead. That would make more sense.

He was about to inquire on the matter when Pearl surprised him by taking his hand in hers.

"Come on." she said, leading him onto the sidewalk and leaving Trucy where she was. "I will, Trucy! See you later!"

Apollo followed her, shaking his head. Whatever they were discussing, it was flying clear of his range of understanding.

(Pearl is practically Trucy's sister. I doubt I'll _ever_ understand how their brains work.)

His thoughts ran beneath Pearl's continued speech.

"I'm sorry if I don't know what I'm doing…" she said, drawing Apollo's attention back to her words. "It's just… W-Well, no boys have ever a-asked me out before…"

Apollo froze in place. Pearl's fingertips tugged free of his hand.

(What.)

Pearl looked back at him with curious eyes. Thoughts clicked into place in Apollo's head slowly, all starting to become clear to him, and he felt his face beginning to heat up. If he _was_ developing a black eye, he doubted it would be very visible now.

(Pearl is practically Trucy's _sister._ And I just _asked her out,_ didn't I…?)

* * *

 _Slow going, but here we are. There's not all that much to the idea of pairing Apollo and Pearl. It's just cute, is all. Gives Maya something to tease Pearl right back for._

 _This is the last alternate universe we'll be taking a look at, but there's still one more chapter to come._


	8. The Branches

" _Late! So late!"_

Athena could barely hear the chirp of the device around her neck over her own breaths. The Wright Anything Agency was in sight at last.

She hoped that Trucy and Mr. Wright would be understanding. Accidentally reading a digital clock backwards in a bathroom mirror and believing that she had a lot more time before work than she really did was a common mistake, right…?

If she'd realized before leaving home that she'd made a mistake, she would have just driven here. The fact that she was the only person in the office with a driver's licence made it even more embarrassing to also be the person who was late the most.

A cursory glance down the road told her that she had time to make it across before the approaching cars reached her. She sprinted across the way, receiving a distant car horn for her troubles. She ignored it and rushed up the front steps to the office's door.

So far, so good, she reasoned, as there were no disapproving faces waiting just inside for her. She glanced around the main room just in time to spot Trucy's top hat poking out from behind one of the couches.

She quietly cleared her throat and called, "Hey, Trucy!" Fortunately, her voice wasn't too strained from all her running.

"Oh-! Good morning, Athena!" Trucy popped up from her spot behind the couch and grinned at her. "So you're here, at least. I'll tell Daddy. Polly's late, too."

"He is?" Athena asked, surprised. Apollo was rarely late.

"Yep. I hope nothing's wrong." Trucy replied. She spun on her heel and headed off for the door leading to the stairs up to the second floor. "Be right back!"

Athena waited until the last of Trucy's cape had vanished through the doorway to sigh heavily. If Trucy wasn't annoyed with her, she was probably safe. She headed for her desk feeling much more relaxed than she'd ever been during the trip over.

At almost the exact moment that she sat down, she caught the sound of the doorknob across the room turning.

"Hey, Apollo." she said with a smile when the familiar sight of her red-clad co-worker came into view. "Y'know, the boss probably won't be happy that you're so _late_ _…_ _"_

Apollo watched her for a moment. A smirk appeared on his face.

"… What's that look for?" Athena inquired.

"Oh, I'm just wondering how much you must have been running to get here for yourself." Apollo answered, crossing his arms after shutting the door. "Going off the red face and upside-down hair tie, I'd guess you were late, too."

Athena's smile vanished as she brought a hand up to check on her hair and indeed found her blue hair tie to be awkwardly dangling upside down. She laughed nervously.

"I-… Heh… I-I've got some work to do here, so if you'll excuse me…"

Burying her face in the papers scattered on her desk, Athena did her best not to acknowledge the smirk Apollo was still wearing.

She heard the bathroom door several seconds later and reeled back in her chair. Truthfully, the collection of papers before her was just the leftovers from last night's work which she'd skipped out on organizing.

She got to her feet and walked over to the shelves beside the doorway. There was something she'd wanted to dig up from the line of books there. As she looked through the shelf, putting aside the various magic-related books that Trucy had disguised as law books, she was just thinking to herself when she heard the office's front door open. Looking up in surprise, she froze.

Apollo was just coming in. She looked between him and the bathroom door across the room. It was closed. Wasn't he the one in there…?

Maybe Trucy had come back downstairs very quietly.

Apollo caught her attention. "Hey." he said cheerfully. He approached, and just before Athena could ask what he'd gone back outside for, his next action put her mind on temporary hold.

Stooping beside her, Apollo had pressed a kiss to her cheek.

Even to her highly sensitive ears, the sound of his footsteps as he walked to his own desk faded from her notice.

Her fingertips grazed over the spot on her cheek that his lips had touched. _"A-_ _…_ _"_ her voice broke on the first syllable. She coughed. "… A-Apollo?"

He turned. "What's up?"

"I-… Uhh-… W-What was that…?" she asked, pushing herself to her feet against the bookshelf.

Apollo raised an eyebrow. "… What was what?"

Athena only felt more confused by the blank look on his face. She opened her mouth to answer when her ears perked at the sound of the door being opened once more.

When she saw who was entering, she nearly fell over. Only catching herself on the bookshelf just in time, she watched, her mouth agape, as _another_ Apollo walked into the office. He cast a glance between Athena and the identical red-suited young man across the room.

"Uh _huh."_ was all he said. He held the door open, and as if nothing were wrong at all, he allowed _another_ Apollo to walk in from behind him.

Athena slumped. Widget chirped something, but all she heard was an indistinct slur of syllables.

What the _hell_ was going on?

Judging by the look on his face, the Apollo that had just kissed her a minute ago understood about as much of this as she did. He walked quickly over to her and offered a hand to help her balance herself.

"… Who are you two?" he asked his pair of duplicates.

The Apollo that had entered most recently gave a drawn-out sigh. "Uhh… That's gonna be tough to answer."

"I'm listening." replied the Apollo standing with Athena. She looked frantically between the three copies of her friend and slapped herself across the cheek. To her dismay, she didn't jerk awake, lying in her bed. "H-Hey…" came Apollo's concerned voice from right beside her. Still at the doorway, the other two Apollo look-alikes expressed similar concern. She felt too stunned by what was going on to stop the nearest Apollo as he tenderly placed a hand against the spot she'd just smacked herself on.

The creak of the bathroom door sounded, and the all four faces turned to the source of the sound.

A noise not unlike a cat having its tail stepped on escaped from Apollo's throat as he exited the bathroom and took in the scene before him.

"… I need to sit down." Athena groaned, pulling away from the nearest Apollo's grip.

* * *

Athena was still not entirely convinced that she hadn't been drugged recently a few minutes later, as she sat on the couch between two copies of Apollo, opposite two more.

"So you're _all_ Apollo Justice…?" came the exasperated voice of the Apollo that Athena hoped was the one she knew. She wished that they had some sort of obvious distinction between them.

"Last I checked." said the Apollo opposite him. Athena squinted at him. Come to think of it… he looked a touch different. His hair was very slightly longer in the back, and maybe she was just imagining it, but his suit looked a bit more well-kept. He noticed her gaze. "Hey, Athena…? I just wanna check - is Junie here?"

"Junie?" Athena repeated. "Why would she be here?"

The Apollo who'd asked hesitated, looking like he was thinking things over. A moment later, he asked, "What… what year is it?"

"2028." came the simultaneous answers of the three other Apollos at the same time that Athena answered. She flinched.

"O-One at a time, please." Hearing all their near-identical voices at once was uncomfortable.

"… I was afraid you'd say that." said the Apollo who'd asked. He produced his cell phone from his pocket and switched the screen on to show it to her. It was different from the one she was used to seeing him carry.

Athena squeaked in surprise at the photo that covered the phone's background. The laughing faces of Apollo and Juniper could be seen there, both looking so perfectly happy that Athena broke into a bright grin, momentarily overcome with joy at the sight. She couldn't remember a time she'd ever seen her two best friends so happy.

"Look at the date." Apollo told her. She did so.

"… 2029."

"Yeah." Apollo replied, stowing his phone away. He raised his hand before her once it was free again. Athena made another surprised noise, wondering how she hadn't noticed the engagement ring on his finger before.

"Y-You're marrying Junie-!?" she stammered.

Before Apollo could answer, a giggle was heard from the stairway door. It opened, and the group spotted Trucy entering, along with her father.

Their footsteps halted together.

"What the-…!?"

Mixed stammers sounded from the group on the couches.

"T-Trucy, what's going on!?" Phoenix asked, incredulous. He looked distressed once he spotted Trucy with an expression of equal shock to his own.

"Mr. Wright, Trucy," the apparently older Apollo began, standing up. He flinched when Phoenix's legs suddenly gave out beneath him.

"D-Daddy!" Trucy squeaked. She only narrowly caught him in time, throwing her arms beneath his as he slumped in place. Phoenix simply uttered incoherent sounds for a second or two. Athena thought she caught one or two instances of "Objection" somewhere in the mix.

* * *

"No - unless we _all_ have head injuries, I think you're OK, boss."

There had been a scramble amongst the room's occupants to check that Phoenix was alright, but Athena insisted that just one of the four Apollos at most approach with her. He stood next to her in front of the armchair that Trucy had helped her father into.

… Was this one _their_ Apollo? She inwardly cursed at having lost track.

"I don't suppose anyone here before us has any idea why we're all here?" one of the Apollos still standing back inquired.

"'Before us'?" Athena repeated. "So, that makes you Apollo number three or four?"

"… I don't really like the way that sounds, but… Yeah, I guess so." he replied. "It was bad enough running into a twin of me on the way to work, but then I had to see two more once I got in?"

"You're making my head hurt again…" Phoenix groaned, pressing a palm to his forehead. "… I don't have to pay _all_ of you, do I?"

"I dunno, Daddy - this could make a pretty great setup for a new magic show!" Trucy interjected. "Polly already makes a great assistant, and now we've got four of him!" She looked around at the group, and her smile turned to a frown after a moment. "Oh, wait… Which of you is _my_ Polly?"

Athena nodded. "There must be something separating all of you. I'm pretty sure Apollo would remember if he signed up for cloning experiments or something."

One Apollo raised a hand. He was the one wearing the engagement ring. "We already figured me out. I'm a year or two older, and I'm getting married to Junie."

Athena couldn't help but break into a wide smile again as she heard the way Apollo said Juniper's nickname. She shook her head, trying not to be distracted. "So that just leaves three more." She thought it over. "Oh-! Right - one of you guys kissed me when you came in." she said, scanning the remaining three. "… Totally overstepping your boundaries, by the way…"

"Heh… S-Sorry." another Apollo replied, grinning nervously.

"So, I'm guessing that means you're, umm… You're dating a different Athena…?" Athena probed.

"Y-Yeah." Apollo confirmed with a nod.

"Well, it's a good thing we're such good friends anyway, or I probably would've tossed you across the room." Athena said, smirking at him. "So, who's next? Give me something to tell you apart by."

The two remaining Apollos exchanged wary expressions. One spoke up. "Maybe… is the Apollo you know dating anyone at all, Athena?"

"Nope." she answered. "Unless he's a much better liar than I think he is, anyway."

Apollo looked relieved. "I think it's me, then."

"Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't be too surprised that you'd find having no love life at all a relief…" Trucy remarked. She sighed. "Oh well. Pearly and I will get you there someday, Apollo Prime. Now, how about you?" With her last question, she turned to the one remaining Apollo. "Got anyone special?"

"Y-Yeah. actually." he answered. "It's-"

Whatever he was going to say fell silent as a knock sounded at the office door. Athena apprehensively looked over.

"… I'll get it." she said. "You guys want to… get out of sight or something?"

"Oh-!"

"R-Right…"

Three of the Apollos moved hurriedly to the door leading to the stairs. Athena waited until they'd closed that door to answer the other.

"Uh oh."

She heard Trucy speaking up in a panicked voice from behind her.

"D-Daddy, don't pass out _again-!"_

Athena stepped aside, gesturing for the three people at the door to step inside. They looked at her curiously, but entered nonetheless.

"I'll just go and tell the others…" she said with a groan once the three additional Apollos had made their way inside. "I hope you three have some good details to share about your love lives, or this is gonna get even more complicated…"

* * *

 _And there you have it. Just a silly little way to close out the basis that we started this with._


End file.
